“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey has made it clear in recent interviews that a return to WWE is not in the cards. For now, the Olympic bronze medalist, former Women’s Bantamweight Champion in Strikeforce and UFC, and three-time WWE Women’s Champion is happy just growing her family. Here is a look at what Rousey is up to these days, and why she has no desire to step foot back into a WWE ring anytime soon.
Rousey is famously a lifelong pro wrestling fan. She had so much respect for the business that she asked Roddy Piper’s permission to use the “Rowdy” moniker and Ric Flair’s permission before coining the term the Four Horsewomen. By the time she signed full-time with WWE in late 2017, she had already made several appearances at prominent WWE shows, including WrestleMania 31.
One of those appearances was a staredown between UFC’s Four Horsewomen of MMA and WWE’s Four Horsewomen at the 2017 Mae Young Classic tournament final. That staged confrontation was supposed to foreshadow a future rivalry between the two groups in WWE. When Rousey signed her WWE contract, that was one of the promises in place.
Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir all made their transitions from MMA to WWE. As they learned the wrestling game, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks were all building their reputations as some of the best women in pro wrestling. Unfortunately, that big war between factions would never come to fruition. Rousey and Baszler would both win multiple titles within WWE, but Duke and Shafir never made it to the main roster and were eventually let go. WWE repeatedly promising and not delivering on that program never sat well with Rousey.
No one from Rousey’s Four Horsewomen is left in WWE, but that isn’t the only reason that the former champ isn’t looking to return. She was not happy with how her time in WWE ended. Rumor has it that she was upset that she never got her one-on-one rematch with Becky Lynch after Rousey’s controversial loss at WrestleMania 35. The referee counted the pinfall on Rousey despite the fact that her shoulders were clearly not flat on the mat for the three-count. WWE never circled back to the incident, and no rematch took place.
Rousey was also upset with how WWE handled her heel turn. The Rowdy One had wanted to be a heel from the start, but WWE wanted her to be a babyface. When the crowd turned on Rousey long before she turned heel, she soured on things. Rousey felt many fans were being ungrateful and disrespectful, and she felt the way WWE’s creative team handled her run contributed to how the fans reacted to her.
Rousey stated recently that she had done all that she set out to do in WWE. She had been a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion, a one-time Raw Women’s Champion, a one-time Women’s Tag Team Champion, and a Women’s Royal Rumble winner. The former superstar now has two young daughters and has said that life on the road is no longer an option for her. Family is her focus now. Being a mom, however, has not stopped Rousey from finding other things to do with her time.
Before Rousey signed with WWE, she began ongoing careers as an actress and a model. She has numerous film and television roles to her credit, including 9-1-1, The Expendables 3, Furious 7, the Entourage movie, and hosting Saturday Night Live and an episode of SportsCenter. Highlights of her modeling career include ESPN The Magazine‘s 2012 Body Issue and Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Issue in 2015 and 2016. She also penned two memoirs, My Fight, Your Fight (2015) and Our Fight (2024). Those memoirs have led to one of Rousey’s latest projects: writing her biopic for Netflix.
Paramount originally bought the rights to the biopic after Rousey’s first memoir in 2015. Executive turnover sidelined the project indefinitely. Netflix picked up the rights in 2024 and began working with Rousey on script options. After reading several potential scripts, the UFC Hall of Famer decided to co-write the script with her sister. She reportedly had a rough draft done in a week, and Augustine Frizzell, who directed the pilot for Euphoria, is now attached to the project. While there is no release date as of yet, the project is rumored to now include material from Rousey’s second memoir (which covered her WWE run), as well.
Many have said that Rousey’s WWE demise was largely contributed to ego and a thin skin. Whether that is true or not is immaterial at this point. She has two children and has publicly stated that she would like to have more. I believe her when she says life on the road is no longer an option, and her family is her focus now. Husband Travis Browne is also retired from combat sports, and money is not an issue for the couple. Love her or hate her, Rousey has decided to live life on her own terms, and no one can fault her for that.
It will be interesting to see how Rousey’s WWE run is portrayed in her biopic. Our Fight was not kind to the wrestling company, which she described as a “sexist, patriarchal culture” in the book. While a lot of her criticisms in the book have been proven true over the years, one can’t help but think that there are some ‘sour grapes’ on Rousey’s part. She didn’t get the run that she wanted and learned that there is a stark difference between the fans disliking your character and them disliking you personally. By the end of her time in WWE, there seemed to be some of both.
Rousey gets to write a new chapter in her life now, literally. What she does with that and how it is received will largely fall squarely on her shoulders. I hope that the biopic comes off as authentic and tells an honest emotional story. If viewers see it as a petty vehicle to get revenge for perceived wrongs, she may well have burned several bridges. A balanced portrayal of her life, recognizing her own faults alongside her achievements, could make for riveting and memorable viewing. Either way, this film represents a chance at closure and a chance to put “Rowdy Ronda” in her past to focus on “Momma Ronda’s” future.
Pro wrestlers always say “never say never” when it comes to a comeback. CM Punk was absent from wrestling for seven years before he returned in 2021. His wife, AJ Lee, had been retired from pro wrestling for more than ten years before returning to WWE on last Friday’s SmackDown. Maybe when “Momma Ronda’s” kids are older, “Rowdy Ronda” will get that itch again, but I wouldn’t count on it.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
